2023-24 Men’s Basketball Preseason Honors – Field of 68

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications
 
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State men’s basketball will make its highly-anticipated return to a renovated state-of-the-art Humphrey Coliseum during the 2023-24 season.
 
The Bulldogs are led by Chris Jans who guided Mississippi State back to college basketball’s biggest stage with a program single-season record for a first-year coach with 21 victories and a 2023 NCAA Tournament trip.
 
The Maroon and White are among the nation’s leaders returning 80.9 percent of its points, 72.4 percent of its rebounds, 83.8 percent of its assists, 83.6 percent of its steals and 75.2 percent of its blocks from last season.
 
Tolu Smith (15.7 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.7 APG), Shakeel Moore (9.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.7 SPG), D.J. Jeffries (8.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.1 SPG), Dashawn Davis (8.7 PPG, 3.5 APG, 1.7 SPG) and Cameron Matthews (6.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.5 SPG) combined for 85.3 percent of the team’s starts (145-of-170) from last season.
 
The Bulldogs have brought in an impressive group of newcomers which include Jimmy Bell Jr. (West Virginia), Trey Fort (Howard College), Jaquan Scott (Salt Lake Community College) and Andrew Taylor (Marshall) from the transition portal and junior college ranks.
 
Mississippi State’s talented freshmen class features Harrison Alexander, Gai Chol, Josh Hubbard and Adrian Myers. The Bulldogs also bring back Shawn Jones Jr., KeShawn Murphy and Martavious Russell who will look to build on their freshmen campaigns.    
 
Mississippi State is selling season tickets for the upcoming 2023-24 campaign. Seat locations will be picked during a full reseat in September based on Bulldog Club ranking. Visit www.HailState.com/Tickets for more information.
 
Humphrey Coliseum will become one of the nation’s premier arenas as major renovations continue ahead of the upcoming season. If interested in making contributions to Humphrey Coliseum, please contact the Bulldog Club at (662) 325-3074.

Field of 68 – September 20
As a team, the Bulldogs were projected to finish among the SEC’s top 5 and were listed among the receiving votes category just outside the nation’s top 25. Jans garnered SEC Preseason Coach of the Year status, while Smith collected another preseason All-SEC First-Team nod.

2023-24 Field of 68 SEC Preseason Awards
SEC Preseason Coach of the Year
Chris Jans – Mississippi State
 
All-SEC First Team
Johni Broome – Auburn
Riley Kugel – Florida
Tolu Smith – Mississippi State
Wade Taylor IV – Texas A&M
Santiago Vescovi – Tennessee

?️ No. 20

? https://t.co/fxwpSe5It9#HailState? pic.twitter.com/CHrjnWQvVz

— Mississippi…